Hi, Tessa here. Since 2002, I've been writing advice articles for West Coast Swing from my perspective as a WCS Champion and 30 years as a professional teacher and coach. My mission is to help dancers #trainWCSsmarter and teachers #teachWCSsmarter, which we do thoroughly in our Swing Literacy training programs.
These articles are my way of contributing some free, bite-sized education to the community to help inspire and motivate with practical, actionable advice for your dancing & teaching. . Be sure to scroll down to load more (pause to allow more to load)
I highly encourage everyone to leverage these free resources by sharing them in your community groups and with friends you know who could use them. Enjoy!
Etiquette is a part of the culture of social dancing that is often taken for granted. We all assume that since we feel like we are doing fine, that others will perceive us the same. Everyone assumes the advice applies to everyone but themselves. …but are you SURE? You may have heard some of these tips before, but
Watch this 2-minute video pep talk to give you some realistic coaching and encouragement when you are lacking confidence because you think your skills aren’t good enough yet.Watch the video: Do you feel like you can only have confidence when you are competent? Are you thinking, “I’ll feel more confident when I get more competent”Stop right
You love your classes and you love your teachers, but it can be challenging to build new skills when the partners you rotate to or practice with have bad habits or bad attitudes, right? So let’s talk about how you can still manage to get meaningful learning from every partner you rotate to in
“One day, I hope to speak Egyptian Arabic well enough to visit Egypt” This makes no sense, right? You don’t need to be fluent in Arabic in order to visit Egypt. In fact, the Egyptians would probably be pleasantly surprised if you even tried “Hello” and “Thank you”. When it comes to language,
Here’s a master list of all those “If only somebody had told me” tidbits of information might make the difference between you finding Westie Heaven or Westie Wasteland! Over the years, we have collected questions from both Beginner and Experienced dancers. They live on our website in the FAQ section, which grows constantly. It’s kind
I am simultaneously appalled and entertained by some of the things my students say in lessons. I don’t blame them for ignorance and I’m not disappointed in them in any way. But sometimes they report “facts” about the WCS scene that they have heard from their peers (and sometimes unfortunately from a teacher) that are
In every skill-based activity there’s a difference between the beginners and the veterans. This makes sense – the longer you work at something, the better you get at it. Notice I said work at; just because you hack at something longer, doesn’t mean you’re improving. But the dance community is full of distinctions, divisions, labelling…ways
Whether you are a seasoned recreational dancer or keen rookie, you are probably looking for the best way to improve your dancing in the most time- and cost-effective way. Let’s compare your dance progress to a fitness program. If your goal was to get in shape, you would go to the gym and have a
Enter your text here… Wanna improve your West Coast Swing? Social dancing isn’t enough. You need to actually practice. But practicing is actually a skill unto itself, one that most partner dancers never actually learn explicitly, so it ends up being resented, inefficient, or neglected completely. But you neeeeeed it and there are so many
